Citroen Conditionally Ready...
“We’re ready and want to continue in world championship rallying but this is conditional. We will not be involved if we are alone!.” Citroen Racing chief Olivier Quesnel confirmed his company’s policy regarding future activity effectively depended on whether Ford will be present in championship rallying after the end of this season. “We certainly want to stay and eagerly await coming decisions from the World Council on 24th June about the calendar and the technical regulations, and we hope that Ford will still be there.” Mark Deans, Ford of Europe’s Motorsport Manager, is unable to give any assurances about the future of his team. “The Super 2000 development project is an M-Sport not a Ford project. We also really want to stay in the sport, but consent depends on the global economic situation.”

1600 Turbo still under Discussion.
Notwithstanding the decision of the FIA’s World Council that the next generation World Rally Car shall be based on Super 2000 designs, there remains the possibility that a normally aspirated two-litre engine on which Super 2000 designs are based may be substituted by a 1.6 litre turbocharged engine. Citroen sources state that the FIA are still considering whether the World Engine concept, which is part of the alternative movement to run 1.6 litre Turbos, is part of a movement to integrate the engines used in top level rallying and also World Touring Car championship events. Olivier Quesnel, “We can understand the argument for using 1.6 Turbo engines, but we are completely against the idea of having World Engines imposed in the sport. It gives the message to manufacturers that if they enter the sport, they must compete in every top level discipline, and that will frighten them away.” Sources in the industry state that development of turbocharged engines at the level which would be permitted in rally sport would be much cheaper than development of full 2-litre normally-aspirated engines. The 2.0 problem is that this debate has arisen at a time when everyone had thought that the specification of world championship Super 2000-based World Rally Cars, except for the cosmetic appearances to be added to the bodywork, had been settled for 2011 and 2012.

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